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Nintendo's attempts to give its portable hardware renewed momentum haven't always been entirely successful; the Game Boy Pocket - twinned with Pokémon - may have rejuvenated the fortunes of its 1989 forefather, but 2005's Game Boy Micro - the final iteration of the Game Boy Advance - was markedly less successful. Nonetheless, this constant desire to tinker and enhance its handheld platforms has been a major part of the Kyoto giant's strategy for almost three decades and shows no signs of being abandoned any time soon; in fact, Nintendo's current pocket-sized console - the 3DS - has seen three revisions in as many years, and it has just received its fourth facelift.The New Nintendo 3DS is - perhaps - the machine that 2012's 3DS XL should have been all along. It seeks to fix the many issues that have dogged the system since its inception, including shaky 3D viewing angles, the lack of a second analogue stick and sluggish performance when moving around the user interface. The good news is that it is successful in each respect and even adds some additional bonuses, making it without a doubt the definitive version of the 3DS hardware. This new system comes in two flavours; the standard New 3DS and the New 3DS XL (known as the LL in Japan). Both share a similar design, but the smaller model - presumably aimed at younger players, if the colourful and cartoon-like packaging is anything to go by - boasts interchangeable 'Kisekae' faceplates and eye-catching buttons that replicate the colour scheme seen on the iconic Super Famicom/SNES controller. Aside from the obvious differences in overall dimensions, screen size and battery capacity, the internal tech is identical across both units.
Before we delve into the technical whys and wherefores of the New 3DS, it's perhaps wise to dwell a little longer on what physical improvements it offers over its forerunner. The most obvious is the introduction of a second analogue controller, dubbed the C-Stick by Nintendo in an attempt to align it with the famous yellow nub on the GameCube joypad. This nipple-like protrusion is fashioned from a rubber and feels very stiff upon first use; it's essentially the same concept as the IBM ThinkPad's pointing stick. Only a moderate amount of pressure is required to register a directional input, and its placement next to the face button cluster means that it's comfortable to switch between the two control elements.
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